The NHL has been blessed with one of its most exciting rookie classes in years during the 2023-24 NHL season, and Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard is leading the way.

The No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft was one of the most anticipated prospects to enter the league in decades, and so far he has matched the hype.

With Logan Cooley, Adam Fantilli and Leo Carlsson also making their debuts this season, there is a lot of excitement for the next wave of talent in the league and a lot of intrigue over the Calder Trophy race.

But where could this rookie class rank among some of the league's recent first-year groups?

Let's take a look as we try to project and place where they will end up among the league's best rookie classes since the start of the 2000-01 season.

In ranking the classes we try to take into account the immediate impact of the rookies during their season, as well as how their careers ended up panning out.

With all of that said, here is where we see this year's class sitting.

11. The 2001-02 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Dany Heatley

Other finalists: Ilya Kovalchuk, Kristian Huselius

The Atlanta Thrashers were a laughing stock for most of their existence, but they did still manage to have a couple of dominant forwards.

They had two of them make their debuts during the 2001-02 season in Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk.

They were immediate stars, both scoring at least 25 goals and 50 points. Kristian Huselius was a very underrated rookie in this class with 23 goals and 45 points, an effort that was good enough to earn him a third-place finish in the Calder voting.

While those three were the big standouts in this season, the fourth-place finisher was also a pretty notable player: Pavel Datsyuk.

Datsyuk did not get to play a major role on a loaded Red Wings team as a rookie, but you could see right away that he had enormous skill and played an advanced two-way game.

Erik Cole, Radim Vrbata and goalie Miikka Kiprusoff were other notable rookies in this group.

10. The 2014-15 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Aaron Ekblad

Other finalists: Mark Stone, Johnny Gaudreau

This was one of the rare years when a defenseman ended up taking home the Calder, but Aaron Ekblad, the No. 1 overall pick that year, had a monster season offensively with 12 goals and 39 points as an 18-year-old on the blue line.

Just behind him were a couple of future star forwards in Mark Stone and Johnny Gaudreau.

Along with Ekblad's big year offensively, Stone, Gaudreau and Filip Forsberg all topped the 60-point mark as forwards and would each go on to be top-line players in the league.

Stone has probably been the best player out of the bunch as he became one of the elite two-way forwards in the NHL, dominating defensively just as much as he has offensively.

Along with Ekblad, John Klingberg was another standout rookie defenseman in this class and topped the 40-point mark in his debut season.

9. The 2000-01 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Evgeni Nabokov

Other finalists: Brad Richards, Martin Havlat

The 2000-01 season was an incredible class for goalies.

Evgeni Nabokov was one of the best goalies in the NHL (rookie or veteran), while Roberto Luongo, Marty Turco and Brent Johnson all had sensational debut seasons.

Brad Richards was the top forward in this class with an impressive 62 points. Keep in mind this was the height of the dead puck era, so 62 points for any player, let alone a rookie, was a pretty huge deal.

Marian Gaborik, Daniel Sedin and Martin Havlat also made their debuts this season. While their rookie seasons were not overly dominant, they went on to have sensational careers.

Luongo and Sedin have already both been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

8. The 2008-09 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Steve Mason

Other finalists: Bobby Ryan, Kris Versteeg

Given the way the rest of his career turned out Steve Mason winning the Calder Trophy in this season might make this ranking seem a little high.

But two things need to be kept in mind.

The first is that Mason had a legitimately great rookie season and helped drag the Columbus Blue Jackets to their first-ever playoff appearance.

The second is that this rookie class was one of the deepest of this era in terms of big-name appeal.

Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty, Pekka Rinne, Bobby Ryan, Blake Wheeler, James Neal, T.J. Oshie, Jakub Voracek and Jonathan Quick all made their debuts during the 2008-09 season.

There were 10 different players to top at least 40 points offensively, while the top three goalies (Mason, Quick and Rinne) all had save percentages of .916 or better.

There were immediate impacts, long-term stars and some future Hall of Famers (Stamkos and Doughty).

7. The 2023-24 Rookie Class

There is a lot of projection here, but this year's rookie class seems like it has a chance to be special.

Obviously Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 class, is the big star here, and he is already matching the hype.

Entering play on Monday he has 17 points in 19 games and looks the part of a franchise player. If this Blackhawks rebuild ends up working out, it is going to be because of Bedard. His playmaking, speed and shoot-first mentality have made him an immediate top-line scorer and he still has not even fully figured out what he is doing yet. When he starts to get a real feel for the game and plays more than a quarter of a season, watch out.

But Bedard is not the only potential franchise player making a debut this season.

The rest of the top three of the 2023 draft class is also off to a fantastic start with Leo Carlsson (Anaheim) and Adam Fantilli (Columbus) each looking like they have a chance to be superstar talents.

And then there is Logan Cooley in Arizona.

The Coyotes have been desperate for a top-tier superstar to build around, and Cooley looks like he could be that player. The goal numbers are not there just yet, but his play-making has been sublime and he passes the eye test for what you want to see in a young star making his NHL debut.

Luke Hughes (New Jersey), Marco Rossi (Minnesota) and Matthew Knies (Toronto) are also off to fantastic starts.

6. The 2019-20 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Cale Makar

Other finalists: Quinn Hughes, Dominik Kubalik

The 2019-20 class is one of the best you could ask for in terms of top-tier defensemen, as Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox all made their debuts that season, all topped the 40-point mark and all played mostly outstanding two-way hockey.

Is this the deepest class over the past 23 years?

No.

But what it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality.

Two of those three—Makar and Fox—have already won a Norris Trophy, while Hughes is making a pretty strong case to win his first this season.

Along with his Norris Trophy, Makar is arguably one of the top five players in hockey, while the trio of Makar, Hughes and Fox are all among the elite of the elite in terms of all-around defensemen.

All three are just now entering the prime of their careers.

Other notable players this year included Kubalik, Victor Olofsson and three very impressive rookie goalie performances from Elvis Merzlikins, Mackenzie Blackwood and Ilya Samsonov, all of whom had save percentages of .913 or better.

5. The 2007-08 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Patrick Kane

Other finalists: Nicklas Backstrom, Jonathan Toews

This is the rookie class that helped transform the Chicago Blackhawks from a laughing stock into an immediate contender thanks to the arrival of then-recent top picks Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

They were both immediate sensations in Chicago, finishing as finalists in the Rookie of the Year race, with Kane ultimately winning it thanks to a 72-point performance in 82 games.

While Kane was by far the flashiest player in the class, Toews and Nicklas Backstrom both showed advanced two-way games as centers.

While Toews helped form a dynamic duo with Kane in Chicago, Backstrom would immediately become a playmaking sensation alongside Alex Ovechkin in Washington.

All three would go on to become franchise cornerstones and help their respective teams win championships.

Other notable rookies in this class included David Krejci in Boston and Carey Price in Montreal.

4. The 2015-16 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Artemi Panarin

Other finalists: Shayne Gostisbehere, Connor McDavid

This rookie class was so anticipated that several teams—including Buffalo and Arizona—were involved in one of the league's great tank battles during the 2014-15 season to try to secure the worst overall record.

That would have guaranteed a team a top-two pick and one of either Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.

McDavid was the obvious prize, but Eichel was a great consolation prize.

At the end of the day, it was Edmonton winning the draft lottery (its fourth within a decade) and getting the chance to pick McDavid.

The result was a 2015-16 group that featured McDavid, Eichel and Artemi Panarin at the top of the class.

McDavid immediately lived up to the hype, but injury robbed him of half his season and opened the door for Panarin to sneak in and win the Calder Trophy. He finished with 77 points while mostly playing on a line next to Patrick Kane in Chicago and has managed to become even better in the years that followed.

McDavid, Eichel and Panarin have all gone on to become superstars.

Other notable players in this class included Dylan Larkin, Brett Pesce, Sam Reinhart, Anthony Duclair, Shayne Gostisbehere, Max Domi, John Gibson and Nikolaj Ehlers.

3. The 2016-17 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Auston Matthews

Other finalists: Patrik Laine, Zach Werenski

You knew from the moment Auston Matthews made his NHL debut with a four-goal game that he was going to be an immediate-impact player.

And he was, scoring 40 goals as a 19-year-old rookie.

He was not the only Maple Leafs rookie to shine that season, either.

Mitch Marner and William Nylander also made their debuts during the 2016-17 season, and all three of them topped the 60-point mark, making it one of the most impressive single-team rookie classes in the modern era.

But this class was not just about the Maple Leafs.

No. 2 overall pick Patrik Laine was also an immediate sensation for the Winnipeg Jets with 36 goals, while there were eight different players overall who topped the 40-point mark.

Brayden Point, Sebastian Aho, Matthew Tkachuk and Zach Werenski were all notable skaters to get their first full season, while Matt Murray backstopped the Pittsburgh Penguins to their second consecutive Stanley Cup and posted a .923 save percentage in his first full season. He won two Stanley Cups while still having his rookie status.

2. The 2006-07 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Evgeni Malkin

Other finalists: Paul Stastny, Anze Kopitar

A year after Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin made their debut, another superstar made his presence felt in the NHL when Evgeni Malkin arrived for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Malkin was the No. 2 pick behind Ovechkin in the 2004 class, and he also made an immediate impact in the NHL with 33 goals and 85 points as a rookie to claim the Calder Trophy.

Along with Crosby and another rookie, Jordan Staal, the Penguins started to establish themselves as a team on the rise that would soon be competing for (and ultimately winning) Stanley Cups.

Paul Stastny and Anze Kopitar also had monster rookie seasons with 61 points, while Kopitar would go on to become the centerpiece of his own multiple-time Stanley Cup-winning franchise (Los Angeles Kings).

Overall there were 10 skaters with at least 40 points as rookies, including four players (Malkin, Stastny, Kopitar and Wojtek Wolski) that all topped at least 50 points.

This class also included Phil Kessel, Joe Pavelski, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Alexander Radulov.

1. The 2005-06 Rookie Class

Rookie of the Year: Alex Ovechkin

Other finalists: Sidney Crosby, Dion Phaneuf

This is not only the best rookie class since the 2000 season, this is also one of the best rookie classes we have ever seen.

Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin highlighted the group as two of the most anticipated draft prospects to enter the NHL in decades. They had enormous expectations placed on them to not only help revive the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, but to also help bring the league back following the 2004-05 lockout that canceled the entire season.

They immediately lived up to the hype, with both of them topping the 100-point mark as rookies.

There was no adjustment period. No growing pains. Just immediate domination. They are still two of the league's most dominant players nearly 20 years later.

But this class did not feature just them.

Henrik Lundqvist, Dion Phaneuf, Jeff Carter, Ryan Miller and Ryan Suter were other prominent first-year players in 2005-06.